Half-Life: Opposing Force (Chapter 6: We Are Not Alone)…

Today is Saturday, which means it's time for another chapter
in my quest to play through all of the Half-Life games. I'm currently on
Half-Life: Opposing Force Chapter 6: We Are Not Alone. I commented last week I
was curious what this meant and who I might encounter - and that was definitely
answered with tonight's play through. Tonight's mission was very short, which
couldn't happen at a better time. Due to some technical difficulties with the
computer I normally play the game on, I had to install it on a different
machine - and unfortunately all of my progress wasn't saved in the cloud. So, I
used the command code to load the map, and I started without any of my weapons.
Thankfully I didn't really need them. I found a shotgun early on and just made do
with it.

Chapter 6: We Are Not
Alone

It serves as a short
interlude in the game with reminders of events from the original Half-Life.
Arriving at the Lambda complex, Adrian Shephard sees Gordon Freeman being
teleported to Xen. Shephard is also forced to travel through Xen to find a way
out of the Lambda complex. (SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)

I know I said this was a short episode, and it was. But something
spectacular happened. I mean, like stop the presses, call the news, jump up and
down and shout for joy - I SAW GORDON FREEMAN! The part where Gordon Freeman
enters the portal that teleports him to Xen. Say what!?! It's true.

I actually reloaded this part a number of times. I was
pretty sure I was supposed to follow Gordon Freeman - but that ultimately leads
to your death - no matter how many times you try it, or try to do something
different. You're treated to an interesting notification when you try this though. You
can see it in the screenshots later in this blog. So, I gave up on that
approach and tried exploring the area a bit. There isn't really anything else going
on, other than energy from the portal going crazy and several of those flying creatures from who knows where trying to kill you. A different
portal opens up and teleports you to Xen. It's creepy and beautiful at the same
time. I see Gordon Freeman again. I also found a fallen scientist and a body
dressed in a HEV suit that could be mistaken for Gordon Freeman. I ended up
finding another portal which transported me back to the internals of what I am
presuming is the Black Mesa Research Facility. The text, "Crush Depth" flashed
on the screen indicating the end of a level and the start of a new level.

As always, I took some screen shots...

(Nice way to start a level - health and armor. That's also a little concerning of what's coming.)

(OMG - that's Gordon Freeman!)

(...what is he doing?!?)

(...he just dove into that ball of energy. Wait for me Gordon, here I come.)

(This reminds me of that scene in Lost, where Charlie says, "Where are we?")

(...and yes, that's Gordon Freeman again.)

If you run quick
enough, you can follow Freeman through the portal, but you will end up falling
to your death in Xen and get the message that you were eliminated to prevent
creating a paradox. Also, when entering Xen a filename, "C4A1TITLE",
will appear as a title. This is because the game reuses the Xen map from
Half-Life, and no chapter title is defined in Opposing Force's titles.txt file.
This can be fixed by adding the missing entry to the file.(SOURCE: WIKIPEDIA)

(If you follow Gordon Freeman, you die every time - and get this message.)